The Alphabet of Uzumaki Naruto
by PsychoLeopard
Summary: My latest project. Will be a collection of 26 oneshots, Narutocentric, pseudovocab lessons. No pairings. Genre to be determined will probably change with each chapter. I love feedback.


_AN: This plot bunny bit me, and I just had to run with it. If you want the story behind this little enterprise, read on. Otherwise, skip to the "genre."_

_What happened is, I was thinking about some of the really good words authors (fanfiction or otherwise) use in their stories. I thought it might be fun to explore some of those words with one-shots, sort of like in-depth vocab lessons for me (yes, I am a teacher-in-training: my mind is screwed up). Then I thought "hey, wouldn't it be fun to do one for every letter of the alphabet? I set myself the tentative rule of 1000 words each, Naruto-centric, possibly related (though probably all taking place in my own Naruto-verse of what I choose to believe to be true), and revised at least twice instead of posted haphazardly. That being said, I have no idea how this is going to go. Oh, and if you want actual definitions for the words, instead of my wandering explorations, go look them up. Consider it homework._

_Genre: Who knows? Knowing me, probably angst, gen-fics, with maybe a smattering of humor or _possibly_ romance. The first one is a gen-fic, I think._

_Status: In progress, 1 of 26_

_Characters: Naruto, Third Hokage_

_Pairings: none_

_Word Count: 1028_

_Warnings: none_

_Date:__Posted 4/09/07_

_Disclaimer: I have never even dreamed of owning Naruto. That's how much I don't own it. The quote at the beginning is taken directly from the English dub of Naruto, episode 4._

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**The Alphabet of Uzumaki Naruto**

**A is for Apotheosis**

"_My dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me, and start treating me like I'm somebody, somebody important"_

Naruto could almost pinpoint the exact moment he had decided he would become the Hokage.

He had been returning from the park where he played alone. He had made overtures towards a few children, asking them to play with him. Before the children could do more than eye him warily, their parents had ushered them away. In hushed tones that he could nevertheless hear quite clearly, the adults told their children that he was a bad boy and to avoid him. Naruto had stared after them for a long time, listening to the abrasive drone of insects and the mocking whisper of the wind. Eventually he had turned away and begun building a sand village where no child had to play alone.

This was not the first time such a thing had happened. It was not even the fourth or fifth. He had not had the presence of mind, inclination, or need to begin counting at first. What was the point in keeping track of such incidents, anyway? He would only feel sadder that he already did.

Purple and pink streaked across the sky like paint splashed liberally across a canvas. Naruto looked up, letting the day's tribulations slip from his mind as he enjoyed the cooling air. It was getting late, and he would have to be back at the orphanage by sunset if he wanted supper. Realizing he had better hurry, he dropped his gaze to the street and prepared to burst into a sprint.

He was stopped by a voice. "Good evening, Naruto."

Naruto put down the foot he had raised in preparation for that first step. For a moment, he was puzzled at the voice. He could not recall ever being addressed in such a tone, or even greeted by name. The voice was almost…warm, lacking the cold antipathy to which Naruto was accustomed. The voice also had a gravelly sound to it that made Naruto curious.

"Aren't you going to say hello, Naruto?" the voice prompted. Naruto turned to see a short man, not all that much taller than Naruto himself, holding a pipe to his mouth. The man wore strange robes, but what Naruto immediately noticed was the funny hat.

"Hey, old man. What's with the hat?" he chirped, sapphire eyes wide.

One gnarled hand reached up to touch the rim of the object. "This? It is part of the formal uniform of the Hokage."

"What's a Ho-ka-ge?" Naruto stumbled a little over the strange word. Dinner and the sunset were forgotten at this opportunity to talk to someone.

"The Hokage is the leader of this village. It is his job to protect everybody who lives here," the old man explained. He turned a little, gesturing with his pipe towards the cliff-side that was visible between buildings. "The faces on that mountain are of our previous Hokage. They are heroes, and so we remember them." Naruto scrutinized the monument for a moment, but such ideas were currently beyond his grasp. He turned back to the old man with wide eyes.

"Can I wear your hat?"

The man chuckled. "Someday, perhaps. For now, you had better run along, if you do not wish to be late."

Naruto glanced at the sun and realized the sun was setting. He was going to miss supper! His stomach growled, voicing its opinion of that idea. Naruto yelped and charged off, waving one hand over his head. "See ya, old man!"

That was not the last time Naruto saw the old man. In fact, he noticed the man often, walking around the village. The man never failed to say hello to Naruto and share a few words with him. He asked how the boy was doing, what he had done lately, where he was headed. Naruto started looking forward to seeing the old man.

It was strange at first, being noticed. Hardly anybody ever looked at him. They rarely smiled for him, and they never treated him nicely if they did. Except, he mentally amended, the old man, the 'Hokage.' The Hokage was nice to him, calling him Naruto instead of 'brat' and asking about his life instead of telling him to get lost. The Hokage remembered things Naruto told him and asked about them. The Hokage seemed to care. Naruto wondered what was different about the old man, why he alone of all the villagers would care about the orphan nobody liked.

One day he followed the old man, trying to answer that question. Naruto didn't have to be anywhere for hours—as long as he returned to the orphanage by sunset, no one cared where he went or what he did. He trailed at a distance, marveling at how people moved out of the way of the old man, bowing and calling out "Good afternoon, Hokage-sama," or "Bless you, Lord Hokage." The old man always returned the greeting with a few words and a smile, just as he did with Naruto.

Naruto understood that there was a big difference between the way people treated the Hokage, and the way they treated _him_. After he had trailed the man all the way to the big tower in the center of the city and seen him enter, Naruto started really thinking about what he had seen. He decided, as he settled onto an empty swing in a desolate park, that he wanted to be treated that way. He wanted to be greeted and bowed to, to be known by everybody.

The way things were going, that seemed impossible. Yet maybe…if he became like the old man, would they treat him like that, too? If he were the Hokage, they would have to bow to him, wouldn't they? They'd _have_ to see him! Then they would know that he was there, he was a person, he was _somebody_ worth noticing.

He looked towards the faces on the mountain, and nodded sharply, his decision made. He jumped to his feet, one fist pumping the air. "I will be Hokage!" he declared. "Just you wait!"

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_Love it? Hate it? Think I should get a life? Tell me so!_


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